DHS probe confirms Biden's FEMA refused aid to Trump-supporting disaster survivors
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, while under the leadership of the Biden administration, was accused of skipping homes that displayed campaign signs supporting President Donald Trump in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton.
A whistleblower report surfaced in late 2024 that FEMA relief workers had been ordered not to provide aid to people displaying Trump signs on their property, eventually prompting several firings at the agency.
'They deliberately avoided houses displaying support for President Trump and the Second Amendment, illegally collected and stored information about survivors' political beliefs, and failed to report their malicious behavior.'
Then-FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell told Congress that it was an isolated incident, blaming the misstep on a since-terminated employee.
However, a Department of Homeland Security report released Tuesday revealed that the "abuses were widespread, systematic, and occurred during multiple disasters dating back to Hurricane Ida in 2021."
Further, the probe claimed that the workers also violated the Privacy Act of 1974 by collecting information about the political beliefs of disaster survivors.
The DHS report listed some examples of observed political signs and flags that FEMA relief workers documented.
RELATED: FEMA fires 3 more supervisors tied to home-skipping scandal impacting Trump supporters
"Trump sign, no contact per leadership," a FEMA worker wrote in 2024 about a Florida home, according to the report.
"A lot of explicit political flags, posters, etc. 'F**k Joe Biden' 'MAGA 2024' 'Joe Biden Sucks' 'TRUMP 2024,'" another worker allegedly noted in 2021 about a Pennsylvania residence. "We do not recommend anyone visiting this location."
"Homeowner had sign stated ... this is Trump country," a third reportedly wrote about a Louisiana property in 2021.
"The federal government was withholding aid against Americans in crisis based on their political beliefs — this should horrify every American, regardless of political persuasion," DHS Secretary Kristi Noem stated.
"For years, FEMA employees under the Biden administration intentionally delayed much-needed aid to Americans suffering from natural disasters on purely political grounds," Noem continued. "They deliberately avoided houses displaying support for President Trump and the Second Amendment, illegally collected and stored information about survivors' political beliefs, and failed to report their malicious behavior. We will not let this stand."
The DHS referred the case to the Department of Justice for potential prosecution.
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Trump DOJ charges another pair of Big Balls' suspected attackers, blasts judges who kept thug on streets
Edward Coristine, the young engineer known as "Big Balls" who previously worked for the Department of Government Efficiency, was beaten to a pulp by a group of 10 young suspects during an attempted carjacking on Aug. 3 in the national capital.
One week after a Biden-nominated judge cut two of the attackers loose and spared them from jail time, the Trump Justice Department announced charges against another pair of suspects.
Background
After the attack, during which Coristine stood his ground and defended his girlfriend, police apprehended two suspects at the scene — a 15-year-old male and a 15-year-old female of Hyattsville, Maryland — and charged both with unarmed carjacking.
'We're not going to be happy until we get every person who was involved.'
While the attack was so savage as to prompt President Donald Trump to federalize the Metropolitan Police Department and deploy the National Guard, Kendra Briggs, a Biden-nominated associate judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, treated two of the attackers with kid gloves.
First, Briggs decided it wasn't worth keeping the thugs in custody, telling one of Coristine's attackers, "I don't want to put hardship on your family."
After instructing both thugs to refrain from possessing weapons or entering into other people's vehicles unless they have permission from the owners, Briggs directed the male attacker to hang out at his mother's home and the female attacker to move from the secure Youth Services Center to a youth shelter house.
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Obliging the request by prosecutors last week, Briggs decided ultimately not to incarcerate the two attackers.
The male attacker, who pleaded guilty to four counts related to a robbery and the separate beating of Coristine, received one year of probation. The female attacker, who pleaded guilty to a count of simple assault for pepper-spraying someone during the robbery, was sentenced to nine months of probation.
Briggs emphasized that the goal of juvenile court was "rehabilitation, not punishment."
"To this day, they’ve only caught two out of the ten. Eight of them remain on the street. That night could’ve gone far differently. Think of your daughters and mothers. The same group attacked people before and after us, breaking ribs and stomping heads," Coristine noted last week. "This senseless crime must be stopped."
Another two
The Trump DOJ revealed on Monday that it was charging two more teens in connection with the attack on Coristine and the corresponding attempted carjacking.
Jeanine Pirro, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, indicated that Laurence Cotton-Powell, 19, and Anthony Taylor, 18, face charges including assault with intent to commit robbery and robbery — not only in connection with the attack on Coristine but in connection with a separate attack on another individual just minutes earlier at a nearby gas station.
Whereas Taylor, a teen from Maryland, has no known criminal history, Cotton-Powell is apparently a seasoned thug who has benefited from bleeding hearts in the judiciary.
Pirro claimed that despite committing crimes while on probation for a previous felony conviction, Cotton-Powell was nevertheless free to attack Coristine and Ethan Levine, the second victim who was stomped ruthlessly by a mob of thugs, because of the leniency of the D.C. Superior Court.
"On April 3 of this year, Laurence Cotton-Powell was sentenced for a felony attempted robbery. My office asked for jail time. Judge [Carmen] McLean, a judge sitting in the criminal part in Superior Court with no criminal background, made a decision to give Cotton-Powell probation in spite of his conviction on a felony attempted robbery," said Pirro. "Within 31 days, by May 4, Powell reoffends. He's re-arrested while he's on probation from the felony, and he's charged with simple assault and possession of a prohibited weapon B."
Pirro indicated that the court subsequently refused her office's request to revoke the thug's bail and released Cotton-Powell. Although Cotton-Powell was later sentenced, "on July 25, another judge suspends his sentence and decides that he should be on probation," said the attorney.
"So after a felony of attempted robbery conviction, after a violation of probation, after a second crime, after a second conviction, after no compliance with [the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency], the judges say, 'Do better,' and they let him go," said Pirro. "And guess what? Within 10 days, he's at it again with Ethan Levine and Edward Coristine."
Pirro credited the Metropolitan Police Department with going above and and beyond to track down suspects Taylor and Cotton-Powell.
MPD Chief Pamela Smith said, "These arrests send a very strong message to our community: If you commit violent acts in our community, you will be found, you will be held accountable, and you will face justice."
"We're not going to be happy until we get every person who was involved in the assault on these two individuals," said Pirro.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!Former national security adviser John Bolton indicted by federal grand jury
On Wednesday, a grand jury convened to consider charges against John Bolton, a national security adviser in President Trump's first term and a longtime Trump critic.
On Thursday afternoon, the grand jury came to a decision.
A Justice Department official previously told the New York Post that the case they had against him was 'airtight.'
The 76-year-old former Trump adviser was indicted by a grand jury on 18 counts related to mishandling classified information, eight counts of transmission of national defense information, and 10 counts of unlawful retention of NDI, according to a DOJ press release.
“There is one tier of justice for all Americans,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement, according to the press release. “Anyone who abuses a position of power and jeopardizes our national security will be held accountable. No one is above the law.”
RELATED: 'NO ONE is above the law': FBI raids former national security adviser John Bolton's home
According to a Wednesday New York Post report, the grand jury considered charges against Bolton over his alleged sharing of highly sensitive classified materials on a private email server. A Justice Department official previously told the New York Post that the case they had against him was "airtight."
Bolton stands accused of sending classified information on a private AOL email account as well as keeping "diary-like notes" during his time in the first administration.
Thursday's indictment signals a major milestone in a months-long investigation — with potentially dire consequences.
According to the heavily redacted search warrant affidavit, reviewed by AP upon its September release and used by the FBI to justify its August raid of Bolton's Maryland house, an unredacted section heading reads, "Hack of Bolton AOL Account by Foreign Entity."
More details on the nature of the hack or the "foreign entity" were unavailable due to redactions.
If convicted, Bolton could face up to 10 years in prison for each count, the press release said.
According to CNBC, Trump said in response to the news of Bolton's indictment: "You're telling me for the first time, but I think he's, you know, a bad person. I think he's a bad — yeah, he's a bad guy. It's too bad. But that's the way it goes, right? That's the way it goes."
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Rampant DOJ Insurrection Should Lead To Massive Housecleaning, Especially In Virginia District
A spate of resignations, leaks, and refusals to prosecute clear-cut crimes out of the Eastern District of Virginia show that President Trump needs to make it clear he is in charge of the Justice Department.Jeff Clark ‘Barfare’ Exposes Another Leftist Attempt To Target Trump Allies In The Courts
'State legislatures and State Bar associations must reform themselves and commit to political neutrality or they will destroy themselves and the profession.'Retribution Isn’t A Dirty Word. It’s Imperative
It’s always been weird the way Democrats and the dying news media refer to President Trump’s plans for “retribution,” both before and after he was elected. It’s like they never bothered to look up the word. Merriam-Webster defines it as “the act or an instance of responding to an injury with an injury.” More fittingly, […]DOJ preparing probes into Soros' Open Society Foundations following bombshell exposé by Ryan Mauro, Glenn Beck
The Capital Research Center, a nonprofit watchdog that scrutinizes the impact of money in politics and politics in philanthropy, released a damning 95-page report on Sept. 17 concerning Democrat megadonor George Soros' Open Society Foundations.
The report, authored by counterterrorism expert Ryan Mauro and first obtained by Blaze Media, indicated that Open Society has poured tens of millions of dollars into U.S.-based organizations that are allegedly engaged in activities the FBI has defined as domestic terrorism, as well as into foreign outfits allegedly linked to designated foreign terrorist organizations.
'This is a clash of the titans of historic proportions — of Trump on the one side and Soros on the other.'
Mauro debuted his findings in conversation with Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck on "The Charlie Kirk Show" exactly one week after Kirk was assassinated. Evidently, the Trump administration was listening.
In the wake of yet another leftist attack — this time a fatal shooting on Wednesday at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement Center in Dallas, Texas — the Department of Justice signaled that Soros' grant-making foundation would soon be visited by consequence.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche's office has issued a directive to U.S. attorney's offices in California, Maryland, and New York and the cities of Chicago, Detroit, and Washington, D.C., instructing federal prosecutors to prepare to investigate Soros' shady group, reported the New York Times.
The directive, a copy of which was viewed by the Times and reportedly issued by Associate Deputy Attorney General Aakash Singh, identifies various charges with which attorneys can hammer Open Society Foundations.
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Among the possible charges listed are racketeering, wire fraud, material support for terrorism, and arson, reported the Times.
Singh apparently referred to Mauro's report and asked federal prosecutors to figure out whether the allegations therein were enough to launch probes into Open Society.
The Capital Research Center's report indicates that Open Society has awarded:
- at least $23,275,000 to seven groups that allegedly "directly assist domestic terrorism and criminality on U.S. soil";
- at least $50.57 million across 41 groups that have allegedly endorsed terrorist attacks and/or are directly linked to foreign terrorist groups or their known front groups; and
- nearly $10 million to five nonprofits that allegedly qualify as associates of terrorist groups or pro-terrorist groups.
Blaze News previously noted that among the seven groups identified in the report that are funded by Open Society and allegedly assist in domestic terrorism are:
- the Sunrise Movement, a climate alarmist group that reportedly endorsed the violent Antifa-linked Stop Cop City campaign;
- the Movement for Black Lives, a coalition of leftist BLM-associated organizations that condemned Israel after Hamas' attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023; and
- the Center for Third World Organizing, which Mauro noted has consolidated three extremist groups under its so-called hub, namely the Minnesota-riot-linked Ruckus Society, BlackOUT Collective, and the Black Land Liberation Initiative.
Open Society Foundations, which is now chaired by Soros' son Alexander Soros, said in a statement, "The Open Society Foundations unequivocally condemn terrorism and do not fund terrorism. Our activities are peaceful and lawful, and our grantees are expected to abide by human rights principles and comply with the law."
The radical group added, "These accusations are politically motivated attacks on civil society, meant to silence speech the administration disagrees with and undermine the First Amendment right to free speech. When power is abused to take away the rights of some people, it puts the rights of all people at risk."
Mauro told Blaze News, "This is a clash of the titans of historic proportions — of Trump on the one side and Soros on the other."
"I have prepared a list with a range of relatively easy options for the Trump administration to exercise beyond what is mentioned in the New York Times report," continued Mauro. "This is a fight that can be won relatively easily if it is done the right way."
While he anticipates victory in the event that "the Trump administration is not scared away by the flak that they're going to get," Mauro suspects that in the short term, leftist violence might increase "because there will be panic, and they will frame this as the civil war that they and their counterparts on the so-called far right have wanted. ... They're going to say, 'This is the moment for our insurgency to officially launch and to officially become visible.'"
As for Open Society Foundations' response to the news of possible DOJ action, Mauro said, "They don't deal with the substance at all. They don't deal with a single allegation. They don't deal with a single transaction that's based on their own records."
DOJ spokesman Chad Gilmartin told the Times, "This DOJ, along with our hardworking and dedicated U.S. attorneys, will always prioritize public safety and investigate organizations that conspire to commit acts of violence or other federal violations of law."
This initiative comes on the heels of President Donald Trump's designation of Antifa as a terrorist organization and the following promise from White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller: "We are going to use every resource we have at the Department of Justice, Homeland Security, and throughout this government to identify, disrupt, dismantle, and destroy these networks and make America safe again for the American people."
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